Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was an outstanding contributor to many fields of human knowledge. The historiography of philosophy has tagged him as a "rationalist". But what does this exactly mean? Is he a "rationalist" in the same sense in Mathematics and Politics, in Physics and Jurisprudence, in Metaphysics and Theology, in Logic and Linguistics, in Technology and Medicine, in Epistemology and Ethics? What are the most significant features of his "rationalism", whatever it is?

A new global picture of Leibniz's 'rationalism' emerges in this book, a picture that comprises many aspects hitherto overlooked. Each chapter contributes to a better understanding of Leibniz's conception and use of rationality in each field. Beyond that, when viewed side by side, compared, and contrasted, the multi-perspective approach of the book reveals a unique complexity, interconnection, and richness, which goes well beyond the familiar understanding of the label 'rationalist' traditionally applied to this intriguing thinker.

Reinterpreting Leibniz's Rationalism?.- Leibniz's Rationalism: A Plea Against Equating Soft and Strong Rationality.- Leibniz's Two-Pronged Dialectic.- Leibniz's Rationality: Divine Intelligibility and Human Intelligibility.- Natural Sciences and Mathematics.- De Abstracto et Concreto: Rationalism and Empirical Science in Leibniz.- Leibniz Against the Unreasonable Newtonian Physics.- Some Hermetic Aspects of Leibniz's Mathematical Rationalism.- Symbolic Inventiveness and "Irrationalist" Practices in Leibniz's Mathematics.- The Art of Mathematical Rationality.- Epistemology.- Ramus and Leibniz on Analysis.- Locke, Leibniz, and Hume on Form and Experience.- Leibniz's Conception of Natural Explanation.- The Role of Metaphor in Leibniz's Epistemology.- What Is the Foundation of Knowledge? Leibniz and the Amphibology of Intuition.- Law.- Leibniz: What Kind of Legal Rationalism?.- On Two Argumentative Uses of the Notion of Uncertainty in Law in Leibniz's Juridical Dissertations about Conditions.- Contingent Propositions and Leibniz's Analysis of Juridical Dispositions.- Leibniz on Natural Law in the Nouveaux essais.- Ethics.- Authenticity or Autonomy? Leibniz and Kant on Practical Rationality.- The Place of the Other in Leibniz's Rationalism.- Morality and Feeling: Genesis and Determination of the Will in Leibniz.- Leibniz and Moral Rationality.- Decision Making.- Leibniz's Models of Rational Decision.- The Specimen Demonstrationum Politicarum Pro Eligendo Rege Polonorum: From the Concatenation of Demonstrations to a Decision Appraisal Procedure.- Declarative vs. Procedural Rules for Religious Controversy: Leibniz's Rational Approach to~Heresy.- Apology for a Credo Maximum: On Three Basic Rules in Leibniz's Method of Religious Controversy.-Religion and Theology.- Convergence or Genealogy? Leibniz and the Spectre of Pagan Rationality.- "Paroles Entièrement Destituées de Sens". Pathic Reason in the Théodicée.- The Authority of the Bible and the Authority of Reason in Leibniz's Ecumenical Argument.- Leibniz on Creation: A Contribution to His Philosophical Theology.- The Metaphysics of Rationality.- For a History of Leibniz's Principle of Sufficient Reason. First Formulations and Their Historical Background.- Innate Ideas as the Cornerstone of Rationalism: The Problem of Moral Principles in Leibniz's Nouveaux Essais.- Causa Sive Ratio. Univocity of Reason and Plurality of Causes in Leibniz.